Burning questions: What will it take for UCLA to win the Pac-12?

In the weeks leading up to college football season, we'll investigate 10 burning questions that surround an up-and-coming UCLA football team as it prepares for an important, albeit uncertain, 2013 season.

Today, we'll take a look at the key games the Bruins will need to win and the breaks they'll need to get to be in position to win the conference again.

Burning question No. 6: After falling just short of a conference title last season, what will it take for UCLA to win the Pac-12?

As Stanford's sideline erupted, rushing the cold, damp field at Stanford Stadium after Ka'imi Fairbairn's kick missed the far uprights last November, the momentum of UCLA's division-winning season suddenly deflated, like a discarded balloon. The last minutes had finished in a heartbreaking climax for the Bruins, and as players congregated outside, with the Cardinal's celebration in earshot and rose petals littering the ground, it was understandably hard for UCLA players not to wince when asked about how close they had come to a title.

The narrative to end last season, Jim Mora's first as UCLA's coach, might've been quite different, had that kick gone in, forced overtime, and potentially changed the outcome of the game and subsequent Rose Bowl. The season would've been an unprecedented success. Mora would've been up for Coach of the Year. And the Bruins wouldn't have had to deal with the cloud of three straight losses hanging over them all offseason.

This year, the Pac-12 South -- and the conference as a whole -- will no doubt be tougher than in Mora's first go-round. Arizona State and USC are both much-improved and could just as easily steal away UCLA's spot atop the division. And with road contests against Oregon and Stanford on the docket, the Bruins will have a tall task ahead of them to avoid back-to-back losses in the middle of the season.

So can it be done? Can UCLA make a triumphant return to the Pac-12 title game and avenge its heartbreaking loss from the year before?

We won't have the answers to those questions for quite some time. But if the Bruins have any chance of conference supremacy this season, they'll have to address these five to-do's along the way:

1. Find a breakout running back (or two) that can carry the load.

Johnathan Franklin was a primary reason for UCLA's breakout 2012 season, and with him no longer in the picture, the Bruins will need to find someone or a committee that can adequately fill his shoes. That's going to be easier said than done. The two leading candidates heading into the spring, Jordon James and Paul Perkins, didn't do much to inspire hope in their first tries at the job. Freshman Craig Lee seems to be the dark horse for the position, but no one knows what to expect out of him. Count on a committee at first, but UCLA will be crossings its fingers that someone emerges.

2. Beat either Stanford or Oregon.

Again -- easier said than done. The gauntlet of UCLA's season will take place in a two-week road stretch that pits the Bruins on the road against both Stanford and Oregon. UCLA got lucky last season and didn't have to face the Ducks, but with a matchup at Autzen on the schedule, the Bruins won't be able to hide this season. Given their style differences, Stanford seems like the better bet for a UCLA victory, especially given how close the Bruins came last season, but it's still likely a longshot. Winning both of these games is probably impossible. But winning one ... well, there's a chance.

3. Don't give up an easy one and at least split the tough ones

This suggestion might be the most important, given the increasingly competitive nature of the Pac-12. It didn't end up mattering last season, but UCLA's 43-17 pummeling at the hands of Cal could've cost them a shot at the conference title, if Fairbairn hadn't hit a field goal to beat Arizona State later in the season. But in 2013, dropping a stinker just isn't going to fly with so many teams waiting to leapfrog you in the standings. The Bruins will inevitably lose at least one of their games against quality opponents like Arizona, Arizona State, Washington, and Nebraska -- they'll probably need to win at least two of those to even stay in the conference title race -- but dropping one of either Colorado, Cal, Utah, Nevada, or New Mexico State would likely spell the end of their title run. If UCLA can finish the season with just three losses and get a few tiebreakers to go its way, it could be in decent shape.

4. Cut down on sacks and penalties.

Nothing is more damaging to a drive than penalties and big losses of yardage -- two things that UCLA was absolutely atrocious at last season. While Mora said near the end of the season that he didn't really care about his team's penalty yardage, the fact remains that the Bruins gave almost 91 yards per game back to its opponents in penalties. I don't care what Mora says -- that's significant. And when it came to protecting the quarterback, just one team in the nation (Washington State) was worse than UCLA last season, if Hundley and Co. want a sniff at the title, those issues with protection and decision making will need to be solved. I think we'll see an improvement in both of these categories.

5. Make sure that Brett Hundley doesn't have a sophomore slump.

There's really no way to overstate how important Hundley is to UCLA's efforts this season. If Hundley can't take a step forward, it's simple enough -- the Bruins don't have a chance at winning the Pac-12. Without Franklin, UCLA will undoubtedly lean on Hundley more to run the offense, and while his freshman season was impressive, there are still a number of things Hundley clearly needed to work on prior to this year's campaign. In the spring, he looked improved in nearly every category, as the coaches vouched for his offseason upgrade in decision making and accuracy. For more on Hundley's quest to avoid a letdown in his second season, here's a full post on the matter.

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Those are just a few breaks that will have to go UCLA's way for the Bruins to secure a Pac-12 title trip. But if they can hold off Arizona State and -- most importantly -- a potentially resurgent USC, then UCLA could find itself with another opportunity to come up roses in 2013.

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